From 1969
till 1982, Aliyev was also the leader of Soviet Azerbaijan, practically dominating
the political life of Azerbaijan for over 30 years. He was married to Zarifa
Aliyeva, who died in 1985, and was survived by his son and
daughter.

Career in the Soviet era

Early life

The details of much of Aliyev's early life remain obscure. After
the graduation from Nakhchivan Pedagogical School, from 1939 till
1941, Aliyev attended the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute (now the
Azerbaijan State Oil
Academy) where he studied architecture. In 1949-50, he studied
at the USSR MGB Officer Corps Qualifications-Raising School.
Aliyev's
official biography also claims that he studied at the Baku State
University, graduating with a degree in history in
1957.However, it seems that he actually attended
the Ministry of State
Security Academy in Leningrad .

In 1969, Aliyev was appointed by Leonid
Brezhnev to the post of First Secretary of the Central
Committee of Azerbaijan
Communist Party amidst a Soviet anti-corruption campaign,
taking over from Veli Akhoundov, who was accused of corruption.
Aliyev has made some progress in fight against corruption, a number
of people were sentenced to prison terms; and, in 1975, five
factory and collective farm managers were sentenced to death for
gross corruption. In early 1980s, Aliyev closed the
republic's law school to the offspring of certain legal personnel
in a purported effort to curb a self-perpetuating elite based on
corruption.

During his leadership of Soviet
Azerbaijan, Aliyev did not develop a commitment to the
modernization of social structures, but his efforts led to
considerably increased economic growth rates in Azerbaijan SSR. Aliyev became perhaps the
most successful republican leader, raising the profile of the
underprivileged republic and consistently promoting Azerbaijanis to
senior posts. This came at the cost of flattering Leonid Brezhnev with lavish gifts and
receptions during his three visits to Azerbaijan SSR. On one occasion, Aliyev gave
him a diamond ring, with one large stone in the middle - Brezhnev -
surrounded by 15 smaller ones, symbolizing the constituent Soviet
Republics, worth estimated 226,000 roubles.

From KGB to the leader of Azerbaijan SSR

As head of the KGB's branch in Azerbaijan, he ran an
anti-corruption campaign masked to purge his opponents. Following
the purge, Aliyev soon became the undisputed leader of Azerbaijan.
During this time, Heydar Aliyev was enriched and venerated by
developing prominent ties with the Azeri mafia. Aliyev, with the
help of the Azeri mafia, earned the profits from the Caspian Sea
caviar, Sumgait oil, fruits and vegetables, cotton and customs and
transport industries of Azerbaijan. In order to remain as
undisputed leader of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev paid bribes to
Brezhnev in the form of gifts such as a "Sun-king" diamond ring
that was worth up to 226,000 roubles. When two Moscow prosecutors
investigated the Azeri mafia, one was tried and expelled from the
Communist party and the other was convicted and shot. He also
became a candidate (non-voting) member of the Soviet Politburo in 1976.
He
occupied this position until December 1982 when Yuri Andropov promoted him to the post of
first Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet Union. The promotion came after a sum of 4 million
roubles in bribes, at the cost of the Azeri mafia.

His star waned following the appointment in 1985 of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet leader. His
political views became a liability in the era of
perestroika. Despite the persecutions of all his relatives
in Azerbaijan, Gamboi Mamedov investigated Aliyev's corruption and
ties with the mafia. This led to the mass suicide of a number of
Azeri mafia members, as well as `mysterious` deaths of a number of
Aliyev's lieutenants. In October 1987, Gorbachev mounted a
clear-out of the Brezhnevite old guard and forced Aliyev to resign
from the Politburo "for reasons of health".

George Soros speculated that the first
pogroms against Armenians in Azerbaijan were instigated by the
local mafia which was controlled by Aliyev, in order to create a
situation that was detrimental for Gorbachev regardless of the
outcome.

Alivey dominated the political life of Azerbaijan for over 30
years, but left his oil-rich country with
a problematic legacy of gross corruption.

Fall and re-invention

After his forced retirement in 1987, Aliyev remained in Moscow till
1990. He suffered a heart attack during this time. Aliyev briefly
appeared in the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan SSR in Moscow, opposing
the Soviet reassertion
of control in Baku, a military
action which resulted in violent Black
January events amidst the brewing Nagorno-Karabakh War.

On
June 9, 1993, amidst the
military coup in Ganja, led by
Colonel Suret Huseynov, Abulfaz
Elchibey was forced to invite Heydar Aliyev in Baku to
mediate.On June 24, 1993, Elchibey himself left Baku for exile in his
native Nakhchivan while Aliyev was elected to become a Chairman of
the National Assembly of Azerbaijan, also assuming temporary presidential
powers. In August 1993, Elchibey was stripped of his
presidency by the nationwide referendum and Aliyev was elected a
President of Azerbaijan in
October 1993.

He also tried but failed to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh War, which eventually
resulted in the loss of some 16% of Azerbaijan's territory,
estimated 30,000 deaths and displacement of over 600,000 ethnic
Azerbaijanis. Attempting a military
counter offensive in December 1993.He settled for a ceasefire
agreement in May 1994 which remains in force till now. The issue remains
unresolved, with Armenian military control over Nagorno-Karabakh and hundreds of thousands
of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Azerbaijan as well as in Armenia as a result of the war.

Death and successor

Aliyev's
health began to fail in 1999, when he had a major heart bypass operation in the United States at the Cleveland Clinic. He later had prostate surgery and a hernia
operation. He suffered a collapse while giving a speech on live
television in April 2003. On August 6,
Aliyev returned to the United States for treatment for congestive heart failure and
kidney problems. He stood down from the
presidency at the start of October 2003, but in an extremely
controversial move appointed his son Ilham as his party's sole
presidential candidate. On December 12, 2003, President Heydar
Aliyev died in the Cleveland Clinic.

Ilham Aliyev duly won the presidential election of October 15, 2003 but international observers
again criticized the contest as falling well below expected
standards. This transfer of power became the first case of
top-level dynastic succession in the former Soviet Union.

Honors

Throughout his life, Heydar Aliyev was awarded and decorated with
numerous awards. Heydar Aliyev was awarded with the Order of Lenin four times, the order of Red
Star once and Hero of the Socialistic Labor twice. On 27 March, 1997 in Kiev, Ukraine, Aliyev was awarded with the supreme order of
Ukraine, the "Yaroslav Mudry" order.On 13 April1999, President Heydar
Aliyev was awarded with the supreme order of Turkey. the "Peace
Premium of Atatürk" order.On
3 April, 2003, he was elected professor and
authorized member of the Academy of Safety of the Russian
Federation, and was subsequently given the premium of
Y.V.Andropov. On 10 May 2003, he was
decorated with the order of Saint Apostle Andrey Pervozvanny, which
is the supreme order of Russia.